We think of "carbs" as starches which break down into sugar. But alcohol is CH3CH2OH. Technically it's a carbohydrate, but smaller than a sugar.

Maybe you should just accept the carbs and go for something thick and satisfying like mead.

5'0" female, 44 years old. Started Primal October 31, 2011, at a skinny fat 111.5 lbs. Low weight: 99.5 lb on a fast. Gained back to 111 on sugar cheat. Currently fighting off sugar/candy cravings with bulletproof cocoa and a little rice.

I (try to) follow by-the-book primal as advocated by Mark Sisson, except for whey powder and a bit of cream. I advocate a two-month strict adjustment for newbies. But everybody is different and should tweak Primal to their own needs.

If you are just worried about carbs, any clear distilled spirit is best.

If you like flavored, I do two flavors with vodka. I skin and chop ginger and put it in a clean jar. Then I dump vodka on top of it. Though everything I've read say this should take a couple of days, I usually have ginger flavored vodka in a few hours. The other I do is lemon/citrus. Zest the lemon in strips, being careful not to include the white pithy stuff (bitter) between the peel and the lemon. Put those strips into a clean jar, cover with vodka, and a few hours later, you have lemon flavored vodka - this one gets better with time, but the ginger one can get too gingery for me.

I've tried berries and melons, but they don't work as well - they're better as an adult smoothie. I haven't tried black pepper yet, or cucumber, but they sound interesting. And before I leave this earth, I will figure out how to mimic the taste of Campari.

Spirits have 0 carbs. However, most are made from wheat. If your trying to avoid wheat be careful. I must admit, I do not know if the process of making the alcohol gets rid of the wheat side effects but I HAVE read stuff saying spirits (vodka and whiskey) made from wheat and grains should be avoided. Guess it depends on how hardcore you are.

I drink scotch (neat) and am a big craft beer guy (yes, carbs and all :P)

But I can speak for the margarita. No sweetener in a margarita is just not good in my opinion. The lime juice just overpowers everything else. Get some really good wildflower honey and use that to sweeten, seriously a teaspoon of it is plenty and is only ~4 carbs total, and doesn't over-sweeten it at all. I like mine stiff so I do 2 oz tequila, 1 oz orange liqueur (triple sec/whatever), 1 oz lime juice, and a teaspoon of wildflower honey, shaken up with ice and poured on the rocks, with salt. Perfect margarita IMHO and not much sugar at all.

I have stuck w/ mostly Rum since switching to Paleo. Made from cane sugar and prob high in calories, but I only drink a glass or three every few weeks so not too worried about it. I agree that tequila and vodka are also suitable "primal" alcohols.